Book Review: Milk and Honey by Rupi Kauer

Author: Rupi Kaur
Title: Milk and Honey
Genre: Nonfiction, Poetry
Format: Paperback
Pages: 204 
Published: November 4th 2014
Where I Got It: My shelf (Walmart)



A collection of poetry and prose about survival. About the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity. It is split into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose. Deals with a different pain. Heals a different heartache. 'milk and honey' takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look







This was a random find at Walmart. I was drawn in by the two little bees on the cover. It made me think of my friend who passed recently and I took it as a sign to pick it up. 

This is a collection of poetry and prose about life, survival, healing, and love. 

First....I will say the first chapter is very dark. It talks about abuse and violence. It broke my heart. I do not know a lot about the author and I really hope she did not have to experience the abuse first hand. So tragic. It does get a touch graphic...so head's up there. 

The other chapters are less graphic and some proses/poems are very sweet especially about the ones about loving someone and loving oneself. 

I did take a lot from this and found a lot of poems that really hit me in the feelings. There were a few that had me near tears. Some of happiness/love and some of sadness. The blend of these really worked. It really showed how life is not one way or another. It is all of it. The happiness...the sadness. 

Now...let us talk about the controversial format that has all the reviews buzzing on Goodreads. After I finished this I spent so much time on Goodreads seeing what other people thought because it is different for sure and I was curious to see how everyone else felt. There are a lot of negative thoughts on it. Which surprised, but at the same time it didn't. 

There isn't a lot of rhyming. There are some repeating of words, but generally...it wasn't how we see poetry normally. Many people ripped this apart. However, I liked it. It worked. Sure it is not classic poetry, BUT anything can be poetry. I guess this comes from my time when I wanted to be an English/History teacher and took a bunch of literature classes. Whenever we talked of poetry, my professors would show us classic forms, but then show us the non-classic formatted poetry. This author isn't the first to do this. She won't be the last. I honestly like it. It is different. It is not everyone's cup of tea. I can for sure see how people don't like it, but I find that it stands out if done right. I do feel this author did a good job at making her work...well...work and stand out and be different. She really knows how to pull you along and make you see and feel the feelings she wants to express.  

I do think the lack of capital is intriguing. But I feel like it goes hand-in-hand when authors capitalize on everything. It is making a statement. I'm sure if I spent enough time I could write a paper on how this is symbolic of the messages she is sharing. I'm sure there is symbolism there if you dig enough and analyze the work. There is one thing that popped out right away that maybe she was emphasizing with her lower case letters: Lots of the topics here are overlooked...especially the issues of child abuse and women/children being preyed upon by monsters. It is so easy to overlook and ignore because the topic is very unpleasant.    

But yes...I do like the format and it works. I HAVE SPOKEN (sorry for 'The Mandalorian' reference). 

Okay - so yes. I liked this collection. I am curious to read more by this author. I highly recommend this if you are looking for some real talk poetry that deals with serious things. Yes, there are some feel-good poems/proses here so it is not all doom and gloom. I loved the honesty. There is good in life, but we can't forget and hide the darker bits. 

I shall stamp this with 5 stars.